Page 69 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Three

“Let’s focus on the dress instead. How does it look?” I hold up the skirt and do a half turn.

“Lovely. Mom would have loved seeing you in it.”

“I think so too. It turned out so well.”

She comes into the bathroom and messes with my hair. “You should have blow-dried this. Now it’ll be all messed up.”

“Just put it into a bun.”

“I suppose I could do that. Sit.”

I pull out the stool from beneath the vanity and sit.

Kelly fusses behind me. “I wish I could be there.”

“I do too. But promise me you’ll stay here? In the Anneliese?”

“Of course I will.” With skills that border on magic, Kelly tames my hair into a neat bun, then pulls a few wispy strands out along my face. “Any makeup?”

I grab a tube of mascara and lipstick. “This will do.”

Within a few minutes, I’m ready to go.”

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“Everything will go according to plan.”

A lump forms in my throat. Kelly plants a kiss on my cheek.

“Love you, sissy,” I say.

“I love you too.”

We leave the bedroom together and find Bran and Damien waiting by the front door, both in tailored black suits.

When Bran sees me, his eyes widen and his body goes rigid.

“What?” I ask.

“You look gorgeous, little mouse.”

He rarely compliments me in this way. I think for Bran, physical appearance is not as important as it is for other people. He operates on feeling and gut instinct and what we have is something far deeper than physical attraction.

But even so, hearing him say those words makes me immediately blush and want to bat my eyelashes like an idiot.

What, this old thing?

He’d admonish me for playing that game.

“Thank you,” I answer.

The look in his eyes tells me that if we survive this day, he will be doing very naughty things to me later. It’ll give me something to look forward to.

“If you’re done,” Damien says wearily, “we should be going. Kelly, you’ll stay here with Jimmy. There will be several vampires stationed outside the Anneliese. You are not to leave under any circumstances, understood?”

She nods. “I got it.”